Marcus Markou visit

On Friday 8th November 2013, my media class was lucky enough to receive a talk from the director and writer of the successful independent film, 'Papadopoulos & Sons'

The Top 5 things I learnt from the lesson:

1. It is a line producer's job to work out the budgeting for films or television programmes. They do this by working out how much everything will cost and fitting it to the available budget, telling the director what they are unable to film. Marcus Markou hired a line director from successful television programmes as his only producer.
2. The two most flexible costs in the filming process are hiring actors and the renting of locations.
3. It is extremely likely that many films will not be given the opportunity to be shown in a cinema immediately. Instead, many films need to be successful in film festivals before they are given a contract in a cinema.
4. There are many different types of rights for a film, including the right to broadcast a film on free television.
5. When making a film there is the possibility to obtain money from companies who are willing to donate in order to avoid large taxes. However, Marcus did not use this. Instead, he relied on the money he was generating from his own business to make the film.